Golden what now?

Wow, it’s been two weeks since my last post.  You are probably thinking I am so deeply involved in my various adventures I haven’t had a second to keep you updated.  Or you may be thinking that I am getting home from work at 1130 at night, drinking a large beer while watching half an episode of The Mentalist dubbed in Japanese and falling asleep.  Those of you in the second group are correct.  Congratulations, you win a rice ball.  Work has been sucking up a lot of time, and unlike before it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to start early and sneak out at 8 or 9.  I’m also commuting super hard core to a total of 6 branches, none of which are close.  Monday and Thursday I’m going to try to ride my bike.  Both of these days my branches are around six miles away.  On Thursday I’ll actually be going about 3 miles west, stopping to teach 2 classes, then continuing three more miles and teaching another two classes.  So far I have three totally different kinds of classes:  Elementary classes that follow a popcorn-themed power point, Jr. high “Practical Conversation” classes that I teach with almost no materials, and high school classes that prepare students for the English listening portion of an SAT type test.  So far my high school classes have only one or two kids each.  This week when I asked them what they thought kitchenware was, three classes in a row answered “an apron?”  I think we should just go ahead and change that word so they get the points.

What else besides work?  I finally got a phone.  My number is 080 4962 1773.  I think you need to dial 011 81 to get Japan from the USA.  But the best way to get a hold of me is through the Facebook messenger app or the line app.  Both are free and only use cell data.  By the way I have seen the future of text messaging, and it is going to change into an art form in about a year.  Emojis are just the beginning.  When I came back from study abroad in 2007 I predicted the rise of texting, so you can trust me on this!

If you want pictures I’ve added a few to Facebook.  Last weekend I took two separate hikes.  One was to a temple I had visited before and one was up a random trail I found at the base of the hills.  It led to a power line tower.  Since I’m in sort of a fridge suburb here, I’m only a few miles from the mountains.  (Like the ones that cover 80 percent of the island).  I’m planning to go back tomorrow to see what else is up in there.

The other small thing I want to mention is that I just started a one week vacation!  It’s golden week here which is a cluster of holidays that result in many people getting a week off.  This one really snuck up on me, but I promise I’ll do something fun and unexpected and hopefully meet some new people.  The other Americans at work are a nice bunch and we’ve hung out several times.  They invited me to play games and have drinks both days last weekend.  I’m not sure if they’re into going out, or my type of random exploring adventures, though.  Hopefully I can convince someone to take off with me for at least a day or two this week.  I’m going to see a few of them in a couple hours, so I’m going to go dig through some maps and see if I can’t find somewhere appealing to go for break.  I’ll update in a few days!